Bharat or India?

Magical healing powers, Bhoot-Pret stories, ridiculous superstitions and so on. We get glimpses of the India that often goes unnoticed but this is not what sainath was hinting at. Many news channels specialize in disclosing such facets of the country. I am in no way in favour of such campaigns and feel they need to be presented in an informative way. We should keep in mind that for a vast section of society television happens to be the only link with the outside world. Such channels have lost the ‘sense of proportion’ and should keep in mind the responsibility that lies on their shoulders. There is no question of their being preposterous but the fact remains that a part of India rejoices such stories. Responsibility thus lies on us too. We should not encourage such sensational stories. In the blind rush to get high TRPs many channels are now entering into this field of sensational media. The real motive of ‘news channels’ is lost. Journalism as a profession has lost its credibility and respect. It sparks connotations of fear, suspicion and anxiety. A new genre of news reporting has emerged where every news is a breaking news and every channel claims it to be an exclusive one

Raman Magsaysay award for P.sainath comes as a pleasant change amidst this hullabaloo. Journalism of courage and truth ought to be rewarded. He talks about an invisible India that is ignored and suppressed. After the farmer suicides at Kalihanda came the Maharashtra farmer suicides. Agriculture happens to be the primary occupation of the country men but agrarian growth rate does not compliment this. Farmers of not only the aforementioned states but of all the states in the country tend to suffer. Sainath uncovered the fact that the farmer deaths are not because of inclement but because of the loopholes in society the economic reforms, the caste discrimination, poverty and illiteracy. He researched on the sudden rise in the rate of suicides in rural as well as urban India. A new term coined for such deprived and overlooked India as Bharat. Sainath blames media for “creating audiences that have no interest in other human beings”. It has reduced us to voyeurs who are insensitive and oblivious.